It’s All in a Name with Chen Chen

For this generative workshop, we’ll play with a form that seems to be all about restriction—a poem where your name is the source of all the language you can use. That is, the only words you can use are those made from rearrangements (partial anagrams) of the letters in your name. How can such a restriction lead to a wealth of possibility? We’ll look at two very different examples, then undergo a step-by-step process to build words, then lines.

Ticket sales from this fundraising workshop will benefit Mission Belonging programs for veterans, service members, military families, and health care workers. A limited number of FREE tickets for Veterans, Service Members, and Healthcare workers are available on a first come, first served basis. This workshop will be recorded and a link will be e-mailed to all ticket holders once the recording is available.*

*Recording will only contain workshop lessons. All other participant video will be edited for user privacy. Only registered participants will have access to the recorded workshop.

Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (2022) and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (2017), both published by BOA Editions. His latest chapbook is Explodingly Yours (Ghost City Press, 2023). His honors include the Thom Gunn Award, three Pushcart Prizes, the National Book Award longlist, and fellowships from Kundiman, the National Endowment for the Arts, and United States Artists. He lives in Rochester, NY and teaches for the MFA program at New England College. Instagram | BlueSky | Twitter/X

Mission Belonging builds bridges between veterans and citizens using the language of creative expression to promote empathy, foster understanding, and build authentic community. Mission Belonging Website